If the Russians don't escape, why are they waiting? Now the problem that Stefanski and others encountered was not only the Zhiyuan but also the artillery on the coast. The greater threat came from the underwater, that is, the Minjiang estuary full of reefs.
Just as the St. Peter led many warships to fight back against the coastal mountains, Molière suddenly felt an abnormal tremor from the hull under his feet, and there was a slight abnormal sound.
Just when Molière thought it was his hallucination and delusion, a soldier suddenly rushed up from below the deck and shouted, "There is a foreign object on the bottom of the ship, we scraped the bottom of the ship..."
The soldiers looked underwater from the railings. Fortunately, there was no ocean pollution at that time and the water was clear and transparent. People only needed to look carefully to find the reefs hidden underwater.
"Commander... we have entered the reef area. We cannot move forward any further. We must use full right rudder to evade!"
Stefanski understood the key to the problem in a flash. The St. Peter was the main flagship, with the largest tonnage and the deepest draft. Other warships with shallow drafts had not yet touched the seabed rocks, but the St. Peter had already scratched the bottom of the ship. ACCIDENT.
The iron armor of the wooden-hulled warship did not reach the bottom of the ship. God knows what would happen if we moved forward!
At this time Stefanski really wanted to give himself a slap in the face, why do we have to sail close to the coastline, what am I talking about! I have nothing to complain about!
"Full right rudder! Principle is offshore, rush directly from the northeast..." The commander looked sideways at Molière and sighed, "Just do as you say! I admit that I made a mistake in my judgment. I should have listened to you just now." of……"
Molière had no time to mock the commander. He nervously judged the situation and quickly issued the order to retreat. "The Diamond is only slightly injured and should be able to sustain it. Let General Venia lead the right-wing battleship to continue to entangle the Zhiyuan..."
"After all, Emperor Tongzhi and Xiao Letian are both on that ship. They can't carry out bayonet fights at sea forever. The adventure they just took was actually to provide the ambush on the shore with an opportunity to fire..."
"Now the ambush has appeared, and they have forced us into shallow water. They want us to hit the rocks and sink! This is really a vicious strategy, worthy of a great hero!"
"We can't hesitate any longer. The tide will be low in a few hours. If we don't get there now, we won't be able to leave. I'm afraid even the frigate will run aground!"
"Being a hero requires the courage to cut off one's wrist! Let General Vinya be prepared to devote himself to the empire! Let him lead his fleet to entangle the Zhiyuan and force it as far as possible to the east..."
"If you can't, just hit them! Jump off the ship and fight! I don't believe they don't care about the safety of the emperor and the prime minister!"
Molière looked back at the supply fleet and troop transport ships in the distance, "Let them follow us closely. No matter what provocation the enemy encounters, do not fight back and rush over as quickly as possible..."
Breathe deeply, breathe deeply again! Molière punched the railing. "It can be saved! We can still be saved! As long as we speed up, I estimate that our losses can be controlled within 25%! Our vitality is not seriously damaged at all!"
The melancholy Wennia received the latest order. He had no resentment. He knew that the situation in front of him was the only way to go. He began to frequently issue orders to the right-wing fleet. The originally linear military formation began to disperse, and gradually turned into an inverted bowl, suppressing the Zhiyuan heading south.
The distance between the Russian warships was widened, and all the artillery was focused on the Zhiyuan. No matter how high the hit rate was, or whether there was any damage effect, the noise caused was quite a lot.
From the beginning to the end, Lin Zhen suppressed the firing speed of the main gun. The purpose of this naval battle was not to completely annihilate the enemy, but to deliberately expose the position of the Zhiyuan, thereby dispelling the concerns of the Russian army. Only in this way could they go forward boldly with confidence. Drill on the golden island, where is the main battlefield where the enemy is buried.
"I'm unhappy, I'm so unhappy! When can we let go and fight? I'm so anxious... fire and sink the frigate at nine o'clock!"
Boom... there was a loud noise, the blast swept across the bow of the ship, and the high-explosive shell hit the waterline of the Russian frigate. The huge explosion tore apart the iron armor and the internal wooden shell. Rolling seawater poured in, and the battleship hull began to capsize.
"Damn! Lin Zhen, why are you hitting so accurately? Hit harder! We must delay the time, we must delay the time as much as possible..." Xiang Ying cursed, and Lin Zhen was so angry that he really wanted to throw down his sleeves and go back to the cabin to sleep.
The slowly sinking battleship shocked the enemy's arrogance. The enemy ships pressing on the Zhiyuan subconsciously distanced themselves again, fearing that they would be the next victims.
The battle was no longer fierce. The Russians did not dare to approach too closely, and the Zhiyuan did not want to be locked in. The battlefield fell into a stalemate.
The battleships fired at each other every ten minutes or so, and then slowly retreated to the southeast in alert to each other. Now only the new Yulin troops on Yanshan and Gujiao Mountains are still very high-spirited. They blew up the St. Peter, and then bombed the supply ships and troop transports.
The rumbling sound of gunfire scared the Russian supply ships and turned them desperately to the east. They no longer dared to approach the Chinese coastline. They could run as far as they could at this moment.
The Tsarist Russian Army soldiers on the troop carrier had gone completely crazy. "Idiots! Bastards! They're all trash! The navy is all trash..." There were angry voices everywhere. They never imagined that the powerful expeditionary force would suffer such a big loss.
In more than three hours of encounter, six warships were injured, and two frigates were sunk. However, it was only one warship, a Chinese warship, that caused all this.
"These incompetent navies should be sent to the gallows! Why would the great tsar waste gold on these wastes! They should all be given to our army. We are the most powerful army of His Majesty the Tsar!"
"Damn it, this war still depends on us in the end! You slaves of the Qing Dynasty, you yellow-skinned monkeys... just wait and see, you wait for us to deal with you!"
Boom boom boom...the shells exploded in the sea, and the waves hit the sky and splashed the faces of those who cursed.
The naval battle at the mouth of the Minjiang River started at around nine o'clock in the morning and ended three hours later. By around two o'clock in the afternoon, there were no more battleships on the battlefield. The Russian main fleet broke out from the northeast with supply ships and troop transports. Enter the deep sea area.
Under the entanglement of General Vinya, the Zhiyuan was gradually moving to the southeast, and it was no longer visible at this moment.
Only the dead bodies and wreckage on the sea proved the battle just now. The smell of gunpowder smoke in the air had not dissipated, and frightened seabirds were circling and singing in the sky.
Deng Shichang looked at the sea level where the warships disappeared in the distance, and listened to the cheers on Gujiao Mountain. He clenched his fists and swore, "A good man should be like this! A good man should be like this! I will definitely command a ship like this in my life." battleship, otherwise I will never die in peace!"
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